According to known bi-parting panel constructions, two panels are mounted vertically aligned with one another. The panels are secured by a cable which wraps around a pulley in a manner such that as the top panel is lifted, the bottom panel drops downwardly to expose an opening behind the two panels. The opening is closed by pulling down on the top panel which in turn pulls the bottom panel upwardly.
The benefit of such a system is that the two panels can be of substantially the same weight so that they are counterbalanced thereby requiring very little effort to open and close the assembly.
To date, bi-parting panel assemblies have only used two panels which either limits the size of the opening covered by the panels or in the alternative, requires very substantial panel sizes to cover a large opening and large storage space into which the panels must move for exposing the opening.
Glazing systems and in particular sloped glazing systems could well benefit through the use of a bi-parting panel concept. However, for the reasons given above, bi-parting panels have not been used in glazing systems other than for very small openings. Furthermore, known bi-parting panel constructions would not seem to be practical for use in a glazing system because this would require extremely large individual glazing panels which as known in the glazing art, presents substantial difficulties from an integrity standpoint.